Help me choose a new camera!

My father was an award winning serious photographer with his own darkroom, so I was always around professional quality photographs. I would like to be able to take photos that are good quality, but don't want to lug lenses and a SLR around. Can anyone guide me towards a good "point and shoot"? I am planning a once in a lifetime 3 week trip to China and am not really satisfied with my current camera. It is a Minolta Dimage Z5. What I love about it is the 12 X zoom. I REALLY want this on my new camera. What I don't like is that the colors are not always the best and the lens could be a lot sharper. I would also like a smaller camera that could fit in my purse. I am not a "serious photographer" like my dad was and don't want to have to fool with settings, but I travel a lot and would like good travel photos. A friend recommended that I get a Lumix. Does anyone know anything about this camera? I would really appreciate any advice!

Panasonic's Z-series models in the $349 price range are what I usually suggest to people: high 10x or greater zoom range, Mega Optical Stabilization (aka Mega-OS) for steady shots at longer zoom ranges, stylish metal casing, Panasonic's excellent,logical menu system, small enough yet not too tiny and thin...just buy whatever Panasonic has near the top of the heap during any one year, and you're getting into a quality P&S that's got the good lens quality and the stabilizer than makes a 10x to 12x range worth having.

Well, I've been reading and reading and reading about cameras for days (getting pretty sick of it now!) and thought I had decided on the Canon SX210 IS until I looked at it -- can't stand the zoom control. I've read so many reviews that I'm probably totally confused now, but I think I've narrowed it down to the Panasonic ZS5 or the Nikon S8000. I'm going to go back and look at both of them again tomorrow. I'm not a camera pro like those of you on this forum and really don't need a lot of manual control since I'll probably never use it. I just want a reliable travel zoom camera that will do the work for me and produce sharp photos with good color saturation. But maybe that's too much to ask of a compact P&S. Any thoughts on a comparison of the Panasonic and Nikon?